I was listening to On Point, or better said its podcast, about Sexual Violence under ISIS, and all of a sudden I realized this was not about politics. This was not about war. No, this was about evil. I have been following a lot of discussion amongst my friends and in the media about the … Continue reading
Category Archives: Middle East
The Syrian Strategy: How the USA, Russia and Israel collaborated to keep Assad in power
More than a year ago, Israeli diplomats engaged the Americans in a discussion about the situation in Syria. Obama had already issued his “red line” warning about the use of chemical warfare by the Assad regime. Then Assad when ahead and gassed his own people in the tradition of his neighbor, Iraq. Obama was not only concerned about this act but also concerned that these weapons could end up in the hands of Islamic Terrorist and be used against American targets and allies. Russia, on the other hand, wanted to keep Assad in power as he was one of the few world leaders over which Russia still had influence. Israel, who knew more about what was going on in Syria than any other country including Syria, did not want to see Assad go. He was the devil they knew.
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The Greening of Gaza: Hummus not Hamas
As they say, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. That is exactly what is happening in Gaza now. Israel has no choice, but to defend itself Given the current situation that confronts Israel with Hamas shooting thousands of missiles, building tens of massive … Continue reading
Reporting from the Facebook Frontline in the Israeli/Hamas War
Of course, the real war between Israel and Hamas is being fought in Gaza and Israel, there is another front, social media. It is a different front because there is no real danger to the participants. But that does not mean they are not being injured. Continue reading
It is hard to be a nice guy when you live in a bad neighborhood
I have written a lot about Israel and Palestine, probably so much that I have bored many of my readers who appear to be more interested in what I have to say about technology than my views about the Middle East. However, this is my blog, and I write as much for myself as I … Continue reading
Good for the Jews?
When I was living in Israel in the 70s, there was no such thing as cell phones or even the internet. But there was the portable transistor radio and everyone carried one tuned to one fo the few radio stations that were available. Once an hour, the news would be played. If you were on … Continue reading
Israel/Palestine, my prediction for the future: A Palestinian State but no peace agreement
In my last post on the topic of Israel/Palestine, I laid out a number of possible scenarios. It was not an exhaustive list. The purpose of this post is to suggest what I think will happen. But I need to make a disclaimer first. It is extremely hard to predict what will happen in this part of the world. While there are clear forces at work, there is also a lot of random events that can shape the future. Never the less, I am going to give it a try. I could also not deal with each and every issue.
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Israel/ Palestine Potential Scenarios
Before I begin to discuss the various possibilities that can reasonably be constructed about the future of Israel and Palestine, I think it would be worthwhile to talk about the ideal solution. The Ideal Solution Israelis and Palestinians would have to finally come to terms with the idea that they are two peoples living in … Continue reading
Israel/Palestine: The Future Part I-Key Assumptions
We are almost at the end of my series on Israel and Palestine. All the other posts have dealt with the history and the current situation. My next posts will explore what might happen in the future. I will do that by first considering my assumptions in this post. The following post will outline the various alternatives I have considered. In my final post, I will choose the scenario I consider most likely and explain why. Then I will be done on this topic at least for a while. Continue reading
Israel and Palestine from 1967 to the present-the past or the future?
In this post, I am going to attempt to cover the period between 1967 and now. It is not going to be easy. After this, I intend to write one more post. This will be on the future. Continue reading
Two Thirds Done 